Symptomatic focal epilepsy in children and adults

Focal epilepsy can occur in both adults and children. The symptoms of this disease can manifest itself in completely different ways for each person, therefore it is very important to timely identify the disorder and consult a doctor for subsequent examination and testing. 

Focal symptomatic epilepsy is symptomatic because the cerebral cortex is not completely damaged. Focal epilepsy is diagnosed in 70 – 80% of all cases. Patients with such a diagnosis receive a III disability group, but at the same time they can lead a relatively normal life.

Benign focal epilepsy of childhood

Childhood epilepsy is a fairly common phenomenon, most often at such a young age you can find benign focal diseases. According to statistics, a quarter of children suffer from afebrile seizures. These attacks are infrequent, most likely at night. 

If the seizures have begun, then they can stop in a year or three, it all depends on the degree of damage to the baby. Many patients with this disease have had a short or long attack only once in their entire life. Sometimes isolated attacks, vegetative, can also occur.

As we have already found out, benign focal epilepsy manifests itself in rare seizures, but, despite this, EEG shows that the child’s body suffers greatly from rather pronounced disorders in the form of high-amplitude spikes . In very rare cases, a normal EEG may be recorded, so it is best for patients to undergo an examination at night.  

Note that the same syndrome can evolve and change over time. Most often it depends on the patient’s age: the faster children grow older, the one form of epilepsy is replaced by another.

Symptomatic and probably symptomatic focal epilepsies

Focal epilepsies are themselves caused by disturbances in the functioning of the brain. These same deviations appear in the form of characteristic attacks. Distinguish between symptomatic , idiopathic and cryptogenic epilepsy. The new ILAE diagnostic scheme provides a clear understanding of the difference between symptomatic focal epilepsy and idiopathic focal epilepsy. The difference between these two types lies, first of all, in their prognosis of treatment.

Currently, focal epilepsy is treatable even in advanced stages. As for the ictal symptoms, the main thing in them is the localization, and not the etiology of the syndrome.

Localization of the epileptogenic focus makes it possible to distinguish the following types of epilepsy:

• Occipital epilepsy
• Parietal epilepsy
• Temporal lobe epilepsy
• Frontal epilepsy.

Modern principles of treatment of focal epilepsy

The treatment of epilepsy has taken a big step forward over the past ten years. A new improved classification of the disease was created, diagnostic methods were improved, etc. Now the patient is constantly advised to prevent the occurrence of epileptic seizures with the help of long-term regular intake of AED. If the patient wants to receive the most adequate therapy for his treatment, then the diagnosis must be made with maximum accuracy.

It is enough to correctly determine the type of the attack itself. Generalized seizures are less common than focal seizures. According to statistics, focal forms of epilepsy are observed in 60% of patients. In order to reduce the number of people doomed to this serious ailment, you need to choose the most effective treatment. AEDs are the most effective, and they are used in the first place, since they often do not have side effects, and their use is very effective. But here it is imperative to choose the correct dose of AED, because it should be minimal, while absolute control over seizures should be achieved.